Community Updates

Our Goal

OUR GOAL

To provide a unique environment where folks who have experienced trauma can openly and safely talk. We strive to respect, validate, and learn from each other.

ACHIEVING OUR GOAL

Achieving our goal requires cooperative collaboration amongst members and staff. Members posts remain appropriate and relevant to topics. Terms of Service are clearly posted to help members maintain the dignity of the board. Members of this group are at a stage in their healing to independently regulate their own behavior, as well as keeping themselves safe while on the forums. Staff regularly monitor posts and replies to ensure the board remains a safe and comfortable environment of learning for everyone.

As a friendly and kind community, we validate each other as equally special and significant.

These forums are active and the community not too large or too small - about 400 post per day. There are many forums on different topics. The topics range in subject matter also. You are welcome to interact as you feel comfortable.

This is a safe place for members. We encourage building coping skills, learning from each other and material shared. We discourage sharing explicit memories of past abuse. We feel that processing memories be done with professionals. There are no practicing therapists on these forums. Therefore, topics that call for therapist type responses are discouraged.

Feel free to look around. Realize that, as a guest, your view of the forums is minimal. These forums are otherwise private to the public view and/or search engines.

We have literally hundreds of articles and provide workshops for everyone. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions. I am also providing a tutorial that should help with navigating our site.

How do I get a diagnosis?

My name is Amber, I can't remember anything before the age of 12, I don't even think I existed before then...I've had my suspicions about having DID for a while but now, I'm sure.I switch several times a day, I don't even do half my classes at college and in some of them I get called Rachel. I don't identify with the body's name because that's not me and my family and friends say I act, speak and respond to different names.They are Scarlet, Rachel, Emrys, Amber, Miku, Henry and Holly. Using Indigo (our friend) I've managed to gather a lot of data about them and we communicate via notes and paper.I did go to see a therapist at Limetrees (a centre near where I live) but scars started to appear on my body and Indigo told me that Emrys and Rachel hated it so I left before something bad happened and I never got a diagnosis. That woman never seemed to believe me any way even though I'm sure we switched in an actual session once or twice. How do I get a diagnosis/ get people to take me seriously? Rachel didn't even know our mother had died until Indigo told her I think that's a pretty big indicator that we have actual memory gaps!We're going to university next year and we'll need help there to but without an official diagnosis we're not going to get any. Where, where, where do I go? It's obvious I have it so... help?

I think if you went in and said I have DID, straight out there's more tendency not to believe you. Docs don't like being told their job in my experience. (for example if you had pain in your leg and told the doc you know it was cancer, they would still would want to disbelieve and test for it).

I would present and focus on the symptoms, people know you by other names, you lose time, have memory gaps.....and say it looks alot like what you have researched about DID. and I agree find someone who does trauma work.

A diagnosis, in my opinion, is not really the most important thing; the most important thing is to find a therapist that is able to support you and believe you in a way that you need; not just one that will throw a diagnosis at you. I have found that most good therapists do not care about giving a diagnosis but instead care about providing you all with the support that you need.

I started simply by talking about my experiences in therapy and by taking in the conversations i would have on a steno pad when they first let me know they were truly there.

It didn't take long for our T to see we were DID. I'm not sure how it is where you live, how seriously they take the disorder. We hope you can find the help you're seeking, it's great that you are seeking it.

We researched in the library of a nearby junior college and found the symptoms we were experiencing were consistant with did. we then tried to tell our therapist about it but was unable to because we weren't centered yet and were being blocked by some of the others. one day i asked my therapist if she thought we were a multiple and she said "I believe we can diagnose you with that". it wasn't easy finding a good theapist but i thank my higher power whom I choose to be Jesus that she was as good as she was. trust your instincts and reach out to therapists always asking straight up, "do you believe in did" if the answer is no move on.

Hi Amber, So many great posts about your question. I think before I even go to see a therapist I would ask if they believe in DID and if they have ever worked with anyone with that dx. If the answer is yes then I would go and just be ourselves.

Now days I more often try to talk myself and my T out of the dx I have which is DID and I find that weather I (we) believe we have DID we still get lots of good therapy and everyone learns a lot from our sessions. Today I believe I have DID.

I was dx'd the first session I went to but I took something I had drawn with me and also shared about the circumstances of my early childhood background. Perhaps you can ask Indigo to speak with the next therapist you go to and share some of your childhood.Hope this helps.

Last edited by Many_Notes on 11/8/2012, 7:40 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Added "Hi Amber")